Smog

For too long, smog pollution has left our children gasping for breath. Unfortunately, rather than acting decisively to protect our kids from this dangerous air pollution, on Sept. 2 President Barack Obama announced that he will not update critical air quality standards for smog pollution until 2013. This decision was made despite a unanimous recommendation by the independent board of air experts and scientists created under the Clean Air Act to ensure that the standards be sufficiently strong to...

By David Stanway BAODING China (Reuters) - Seven years ago, the Chinese city of Baoding launched an ambitious "low-carbon" plan using renewables like solar power to light its streets and heat residential buildings, putting it at the forefront of the country's battle to cut pollution. In 2013, Baoding was still the third most polluted city in the country, with levels of harmful particles in the air more than 40 percent above those in the nearby capital Beijing. ...

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Beijing man is seeking to divorce his wife after she took their son to a tropical island province to escape the capital's notorious smog, saying the long-distance relationship had destroyed their marriage, state media said on Thursday. The man, identified only by his family name of Wang, married his wife in 2008 and had a son two years later, the Beijing Times reported, in a story widely picked up by other Chinese media outlets online, including Xinhua...

SHANGHAI, March 9 (Reuters) - China tested a domestically-produced drone aircraft designed to disperse smog on Saturday, official media reported, in an important step for the country's domestic aviation industry. At the opening of an annual parliament meeting last week, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said that China will "declare war on pollution. " Almost all Chinese cities monitored for pollution last year failed to meet state standards. The environment has emerged as one of...

BEIJING (Reuters) - China may revive 2008 Beijing Olympics-style air pollution controls when it holds a meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders in the often smog-shrouded capital in November, state media said on Thursday. Officials are mulling traffic curbs based on license plate numbers to cut emissions and the closure of plants and construction sites during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting, which draws many heads of state from the group's 21 member...

SHANGHAI, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Hazardous air pollution forced schools to shut or suspend outdoor activities in at least two cities in eastern China, where residents complained of the yellow skies and foul smells that are symtomatic of the country's crippling smog crisis. China's stability-obsessed leadership has become increasingly concerned by the abysmal air quality in cities, as it plays into popular resentment over political privilege and rising inequality in the...

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's energy-hungry, high-polluting industries continued to grow too fast in 2013, putting "huge pressures" on the environment and causing air quality to worsen, the country's pollution agency said on Tuesday. Premier Li Keqiang "declared war" on pollution in a major policy address this month, but China has long struggled to strike a balance between protecting the environment and keeping up economic growth. China is...

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Beijing man is seeking to divorce his wife after she took their son to a tropical island province to escape the capital's notorious smog, saying the long-distance relationship had destroyed their marriage, state media said on Thursday. The man, identified only by his family name of Wang, married his wife in 2008 and had a son two years later, the Beijing Times reported, in a story widely picked up by other Chinese media outlets online, including Xinhua...

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's smog is making it harder for foreign firms to convince top executives to work in the country, the American Chamber of Commerce in Beijing said on Wednesday, offering some of the strongest evidence yet on how pollution is hurting recruitment. Some 48 percent of the 365 foreign companies that replied to the chamber's annual survey, which covers businesses in China's northern cities, said concerns over air quality were turning senior...

BEIJING (Reuters) - A state-owned Chinese insurer will offer residents of Beijing insurance cover against health risks caused by air pollution, promising to pay out 1,500 yuan ($240) to policy holders hospitalized by smog. The policy, available for 10-50 year olds, will also pay out 300 yuan ($48.56) when the city's official smog index exceeds 300 for five consecutive days, a level considered "hazardous", according to a notice posted on the People's Insurance Company...

BEIJING (Reuters) - A state-owned Chinese insurer will offer residents of Beijing insurance cover against health risks caused by air pollution, promising to pay out 1,500 yuan ($240) to policy holders hospitalized by smog. The policy, available for 10-50 year olds, will also pay out 300 yuan ($48.56) when the city's official smog index exceeds 300 for five consecutive days, a level considered "hazardous", according to a notice posted on the People's Insurance Company...

BEIJING (Reuters) - Choking smog all but shut down one of northeastern China's largest cities on Monday, forcing schools to suspended classes, snarling traffic and closing the airport, in the country's first major air pollution crisis of the winter. An index measuring PM2.5, or particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5), reached a reading of 1,000 in some parts of Harbin, the gritty capital of northeastern Heilongjiang province and home to some 11...

BEIJING, March 9 (Reuters) - China will toughen its environmental protection laws to target polluters, according to a high-level policy report released on Sunday, paving the way for possibly unlimited penalties for polluting and the suspension or shutdown of polluters. The revised law would hold "polluters accountable for the damage they cause and having them compensate for it", said the report, delivered by Zhang Dejiang, who sits on the seven-member ...

By Sui-Lee Wee BEIJING, Feb 25 (Reuters) - A Chinese man in a smoggy northern city has become the first person in the country to sue the government for failing to curb air pollution, a state-run newspaper reported on Tuesday. Li Guixin, a resident of Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei province, has submitted his complaint to a district court, asking the Shijiazhuang Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau to "perform its duty to control air pollution...

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China tested a domestically-produced drone aircraft designed to disperse smog on Saturday, official media reported, in an important step for the country's domestic aviation industry. At the opening of an annual parliament meeting last week, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said that China will "declare war on pollution. Almost all Chinese cities monitored for pollution last year failed to meet state standards. The environment has emerged as one of Beijing's key priorities...

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping surprised Beijing residents by visiting traditional courtyard homes and chatting near a shopping street on Tuesday, drawing praise from social media for mixing in public during a bad bout of smog. Unscripted interactions between politicians and the public are uncommon in a country where even leaders' birthdays and family backgrounds are often closely held secrets. A shaky video of Xi's visit posted online showed...